BY MATT HELMS • FREE PRESS DRIVING COLUMNIST • MAY 26, 2009

A veterans group that created a statewide list of gas stations that offer full-service refueling to drivers with disabilities is hoping to take the list a step further.

Novi-based Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America wants gas stations to also offer an easier, more dignified way for disabled drivers to notify gas station attendants that they need assistance. Right now, folks asking for help have to honk the horn. It’s not exactly the most enjoyable thing to do, for drivers with disabilities or for others filling up around them, says PVA executive director Michael Harris. It doesn’t always work, either.

“You feel uncomfortable because the people getting gas don’t know what you’re honking about,” Harris says. “And a lot of times the people inside don’t hear it. So you just sit there.”

Harris tells me one station, a Marathon at Ford and Newburgh roads in Westland, has installed a device that goes a long way toward helping. It’s the Fuel Call – basically a pole-mounted doorbell-like gadget that alerts gas station attendants that a driver with disabilities needs help refueling. It’s set up so that a button is easily reachable.

“It’s very simple,” Harris says. “We’re trying to get more gas stations to adopt this as their standard operating procedure.”

Harris’ group worked with representatives of the state’s petroleum industry and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and came up with www.thepumpguide.com, a list of more than 900 state gas stations that participate. The site lists hours of operation at the stations and whether they offer amenities such as ATMs, car washes and accessible restrooms. The list can be searched by county, ZIP code, and route and within a specified distance of an address.

The pump-side service is available only to drivers who have an official state disability license plate or a placard that hangs from rearview mirrors. By law stations cannot charge more for the service.

Interested in helping spread the word about the fuel call device? Go to www.disabilitygas.com. It’s a small thing that provides a huge service.